Bear Bento

C Bento

For my little bear today we decided to do a princess bear with cheese accents, 

grapes, tomatoes and a mini muffin.

Bento Giveaway Winners

October is almost here and what a great way to start my birthday month but to announce the winners of our Bento Giveaway. Drum roll please........ ....... ......... .........

Winner #1 is......#26 Nicole You win the girly set

Winner #2 is......#61  alilcrunchidoula You win the boy set

Thank you everyone for entering and for helping my blog grow by being awesome bloggy friends!

Fall Tree and Daddy's Last Bento

C's Lunch

Tree shaped PB&J with fall leaf sprinkles, cheddar bunnies, grapes,

tomatoes and cauliflower.

Daddy Bento

Daddy's dino ended up with a broken leg but I was told he was still tasty..lol Cheddar bunnies, carrots, grapes and a mini muffin round out his lunch today.

Sadly today is the last day (for now) of the Daddy Bento's. Hubbz needs to lose a few pounds before his CFT (Combat Fitness Test), so he's hitting the Slim Fast. He did say that if I wanted to melt down his Slim Fast bars and mold them into fun shapes I could do that....lol  He's so silly!

Linking todays post with What's For Lunch Weds!! Stop by to see other awesome lunches made for kids by mommies.

Fun Day With Muffin Tin Mom - Pick On Us

The awesome day I spent with Michelle (Muffin Tin Mom) was actually a two parter. After we had those delicious cupcakes (see post here) we headed over to a spot she has blogged about before... Pick On Us. They are an online catering supply company but more than that everything is made from bamboo! Since they are an online shop we decided to pop in in the hopes they would let us shop...and they did!

It was a wonderland of colors and designs. Picks with stars, hearts, diamonds, Christmas tree's, sports theme, ect...so many different styles to choose from. All I could think of was the wonderful possibility for my bentos and Muffin Tin Mondays. M ohhh'd and ahhh'd over all the colors and had a blast throwing bags of picks into my basket, she was a great helper.

The prices at Pick On Us are very reasonable. Depending on the pick you can get 50 for $2.50 or $5.00 for the more specialty ones. They have some packages of 100 picks for $5.00, what a deal!!

After our shopping spree we went back to Michelle's and like kids on Halloween we laid out all our picks on the dinning room table and started trading...lol It was awesome! So what did I walk away with?

Bamboo tasting cups and boats.....

Dozens of each of these picks....

These accents are acrylic beads and are so fab!

Plus the football picks that were used in yesterday's Football themed Muffin Tin Monday was from Pick On Us. Those football ones had just come in and are not even on the website yet. So yay for being the first to purchase the new items and show them off to you!

Helicopter And Pony Bento

C's Lunch

Pony PB & J sami with hello panda cookies, yellow carrots, cherry tomatoes and mini apple.

 Daddy Bento

His "usual" sami with a cheesy Helo, bunny cheddars, yellow carrots, grapes and a mini muffin.

Fun Finds At Ross

A few days ago Shannon at What's For Lunch at Our House found some awesome bento/muffin tin monday deals at Ross. She posted a pic on Twit Pic and got everyone running to their local Ross stores. After taking C to school I went and did my shopping and was excited by what I found.

You can never have enough cutters...lol I also found these awesome little things...

Egg Spoons and Cups

Piggy Frying Pan

New lunch bag, how cute is this!

The inside zipper is a cold bag and the side pockets are perfect for juice boxes, snacks and silverware.

Muffin Tin Monday - Sunday Night Football

Another awesome week of Muffin Tin Monday is upon us. Today we decided to do "football" since it is Sunday and that is what we have been watching all day (thank god Dallas finally won one).

The girls have a football shaped turkey sami with cheese detail, goldfish pretzels, apple/caramel cake from the Whole Foods bakery (it's amazing), yellow carrots, salami and cheese on a football skewer, and small apple picked by us on Saturday (we went apple picking in Julian).

The ultra cool picks in the tins with week are from Pick On Us in Vista. Muffin Tin Mom and I went shopping after our yummy cupcake tasting. A post will follow soon about all the awesome stuff we bought!

To see more awesome Muffin Tin Monday's stop by Muffin Tin Mom, the home of MTM!!

Sunday Funnies

Fun Day With Muffin Tin Mom - Little Cakes Cupcake Kitchen

Today has been an awesome day. After walking C to school M and I hopped in the Mustang and drove up to Vista to visit our girl Muffin Tin Mom (Michelle). It is always an amazing time when we get together and I cherish the time we spend just hanging out with a cup of java. I saw on her Facebook the day before a post about this new cupcake shop called Little Cakes Cupcake Kitchen that just opened by her house. As one whom is always searching for the next mind blowing cupcake I was so down.

First before diving into the amazing world of delicious cupcakes I have to talk about the decor. Loving it! It was like walking into my future home.  Clean and sleek with touches of whimsy and shabby chic or country chic. The wainscoting and the simple frames on the wall made it feel very homey and inviting. It was defiantly not over decorated and I loved that.

On the menu today was Chocolate, Vanilla, Triple Dark Chocolate, Pina Colada, Pancake and Bacon, Boston Cream and Red Velvet.  All cupcakes are made in the store fresh daily and they use their signature Italian Buttercream. It is quite spectacular. All of them looked delish how could we ever choose? Well M made it easy being she is a chocolate freak so Triple Dark Chocolate for her and I can never pass up a Boston Cream!

Delicious inside of my Boston Cream

Michelle was the brave one and went for the Pancakes and Bacon. Sounds weird I know but think of it...the sweet with the salty, plus bacon makes everything better right? It was amazing!

Michelle's first bit of the Pancake and Bacon Cupcake

I even decided that daddy and C deserved an amazing Friday treat so I bought the Pancake and Bacon for daddy and a simple Vanilla for C.

We had an amazing time at Little Cakes Cupcake Kitchen. Thank you to Don and the staff for letting us take pictures to share with all you lovely's.

Michelle and M

Designs by Janessa Review

The most amazing thing in the world to me is my girls. To see them growing, learning, exploring and becoming little ladies is a miracle and a blessing everyday. I wish I could cover myself in memories or trinkets of them 24/7.  However I do not have the personality to wear tees with ginormous (it's a word) pictures of my girls faces on them with the matching hat and tote so I am always on the lookout for a more subtle way to keep them close to me even when their not.

I have the wonderful opportunity to review for a local stay at home mom. Her name is Janessa of Designs by Janessa and she along with her work are both lovely. As a previous High School science teacher Janessa signed up for an art class in PMC (precious metal clay). Her goal was to create a charm she could wear with her sons name on it. Janessa realized other moms like myself wanted the same thing and she started experimenting with fingerprint charms and that is how Designs by Janessa was born.

I was blown away at the thought of having my daughters finger prints around my neck and close to my heart always. While looking around at Janessa's website I realized it's not just necklaces but so much more. From charm bracelets perfect for grandma to dog tags, key chains and even cufflinks for dad. For you peeps with fur babies you can even get your dogs paw print or noise print! She truly has something for everyone.

The process was so simple. She sent me two different compounds with instructions and a return self addressed envelope. You take a pea size ball of each compound, kneed them together (quickly), form into a ball and press your child's finger into the putty.

C's finger print in progress..

M's turn..

I decided to do the girls thumbs, not sure why exactly. You can choose which ever finger to do I just thought the thumb would turn out better. It was very simple but I do stress that once you mix the two compounds you need to move quickly for the print because it does dry wicked fast. Luckily Janessa gives you plenty of the compounds so if you mess up the first one (or two) you still have enough to work with. After you are happy with the prints you made you slip them inside the provided plastic bags and ship them back to her. Simple right? And a very short time later you will be as excited as I was when I got another envelope in the mail!

I became very teary upon opening my package. Are they not just the sweetest things you have ever seen? That's my girls, right there. Those small little disks...it's amazing to say the least. On the back of each one Janessa engraved their names so I would know who's print belongs to whom. I just love them so much.

They are small enough to not look heavy and in your face and yet so unique that you see people doing a double take when they see me wearing them. I had a few mommies at my daughters school asking about them already and my girl Michelle (Muffin Tin Mom) saw them in person and thought they were fabulous.

If you are looking for something truly unique for yourself or a family member check out Designs by Janessa and be blown away by the care and craftsmanship she puts into each print. Are you on Facebook? Stop by and became a Fan of Designs by Janessa on FB!

Disclaimer: I was contacted via email by a Janessa or Designs by Janessa and received the above mentioned product to review. Any and all opinions expressed are mine and mine alone and are unbiased.

Kanga, Flowers And An Airplane Bento

C's Lunch

Kanga PB&J with cheese overlay and mini heart sami's. Grape tomatoes, Sliced pluot and Annie's cheddar bunnies.

M's Snack and Lunch

Since we were visiting Muffin Tin Mom today I knew assumed M would want a snack and then lunch while we out and about. I was wrong. She actually didn't eat it until several hours later when we arrived home..oh well. 

In her snack box she got salami, cheese and mini muffins. In her lunch box was leftover baked ziti with a cheesy flowers and mini gummy bugs. Grapes, yellow carrots, and Annie's cheddar bunnies.

Daddy's Lunch

Pastrami, roast beast and cheese sami with a cheesy airplane. Grapes, mini muffin and cheddar bunnies.

Mommy Lunch

Broccoli Beef with Hawaiian Fried Rice

Yellow carrots, pluot, and a mini muffin

This was actually my lunch from late yesterday. Weds night we went to Taste Of Thai in Del Mar and it was awesome! I have been dying to take the family to a Thai restaurant but we just never have. So Weds I told hubby we were going. Of course he was skeptical but that was soon far behind him when the Satae came to the table. It was delicious and cooked just how hubby would do it himself.

Hubby ordered the Beef with Thai Fried Rice, I got the Broccoli Beef and the girls shared a plate of Hawaiian Fried Rice with Chicken. All the food was amazing and hubby was so impressed we will defiantly be making it a regular place to eat. I am already planning my next meal...Beef with Choochi Curry...yummm!